Night Grand Prix

Pul roku jsem se tesila, 6 tydnu jsem se snazila trenovat. Ale protoze se mi nestacila zahojit dira po zubu moudrosti, nakonec jsem zustala mezi fanousky, Katka (moje nej kamaradka) musela bezet sama. Ale bylo to super :)


Vcera vecer se na Starem Meste konala nocni Grand Prix - beh pro zeny na pet kilometru, muzi si zabehli kilometru hned deset. Start zenskeho behu byl naplanovany na osmou hodinu vecerni, muzi startovali az o hodinu pozdeji.

Jak se blizil cas startu zen, zacal se startovni koridor zaplnovat a stejne tak se zacaly kupit davy lidi podel startu a zacatku trasy. Me snahy o foceni byly docela marne, nedokazala jsem se probit na misto, kde by bylo videt zavodnice po startu. Jedine takove misto bylo hned kousek za startem, ale tam stal umelec plivajici ohen na vsechny strany.

Mista tesne u zavodniho koridoru se uvolnila, az kdyz zavodnice odstartovaly a zmizely v ulickach Stareho Mesta. Za par minut znovu probihaly Staromestskym namestim, mista kolem trati se opet velmi rychle zaplnila divaky. Byla jsem ale hodne zklamana, ze se publikum tak zdrahalo bezkyne povzbuzovat. Komentatori divaky nekolikrat vyzyvali k potlesku a povzbuzovani, presto vetsina lidi zustala stat nehybne se znudenym vyrazem. Zrejme netusili, jak je pro bezce povzbuzovani dulezite.

Sotva probehly timto usekem, nastal cas, abych se presunula k cili, protoze zbyvalo jen nekolik malo minut, nez se ukaze, ktera z ucastnic zvitezi. Jako prvni dobehla dle ocekavani Kenanka Irene Kwambai. Komentatori s napetim ocekavali, kdy dorazi do cile i nektera z ceskych zavodnic a ja cekala, kdy spatrim do cilove rovinky pribihat Katku.

Asi minutu po Kenance pribehla i Petra Kaminkova - ze vcerejsich zen nejrychlejsi Ceska. Do cile pak v pomerne dlouhych intervalech dobihaly dalsi zavodice. Organizatori hned pozvali Petru na komentatorske stanoviste a ta jim jeste udychana poskytla rozhovor. Stezovala si na spatne osvetleni - casto svitilo svetlo do oci, po ceste si trikrat vyvrkla kotnik. Zaverem pravila, ze se neda nic delat a ze se musi smirit s tim, ze dnesni zavod byl pro divaky. Coz me prislo jako ponekud nestastne, protoze jsem toho nazoru, ze takove zavody by mely byt pro divaky predevsim, ze to se rozumi samo sebou (nejen proto, ze bez divaku by nebyli sponzori a bez sponzoru by nebyl zavod). Docela me zamrzelo, ze nerekla nic pozitivniho - rada bych totiz, aby se zavod konal za rok zase a abych se mohla konecne zucastnit. Jak znelo heslo teto Grand Prix - "Nektere veci jsou proste lepsi v noci."

Blizi se teprve 23. minuta od startu a ja uz vidim, jak se k cili blizi Katka! Cekala jsem, ze dobehne hodne dobre, ale takhle brzo, to me hodne prekvapilo. Nadsene jsem se snazila prichystat si fotak, abych ji udelala cilovou fotku, ale nejak jsem to nezvladla a tak je fotka ponekud tmava :) (to je ta cerna fotografie s bilymi pruhy)

Za chvili jsme se sesly na domluvenem miste, trikrat se prodiraly davy na namesti sem a tam, nez jsme nasly, kam se vraci cipy. Organizatori byli sice vzdycky mili a ochotni, ale moc toho nevedeli. Na dotaz, kam se vraci cipy, jednou dokonce odpovedeli "Vy mate naky cipy?:-o".

Nez jsme se nadaly, byl odstartovan zavod muzu. Jeste jsme ukoristily par balonku a chvili se toulaly ulickami okolo namesti. Dosli jsme do Parizske ulice, ktera byla posledni ulici pred cilem. V cili bylo hodne lidi, ale v tehle ulici nebyla ani noha, nikdo, kdo by bezce povzbudil. Nemusely jsme dlouho cekat a uz se k nam blizili prvni bezci (prvnich nekolik bylo tradicne z Keni). A tak se stalo, ze jsme nasledujicich 45 minut stravily v teto ztichle ulici tleskanim, piskanim a kricenim "Joooo" a "Peknyyy", "Dobreee", "Jedem, jedem!", "Uz jen kousek", "Do tohooo", "Super" a ke konci "Nevzdavej to, uz jen par metru!" a "Je to taaam!". Asi jsme vypadaly docela blaznive, ale pravda je, ze mnoho bezcu skutecne zrychlilo a ti, co uz jen sli, tak zacali bezet. Energii jsme dodaly, myslim, vetsine z nich. Jeste ted me pali z toho tleskani dlane :)

Je to vazne hezky pocit, videt, jak se lide prekonavaji, jak jim prostym krikem dodavate silu. Mezi zavodniky bylo mnoho deti, duchodcu a dokonce i jeden odvazlivec s berlemi. A bylo videt, zvlaste na tech zavodnicich, kteri nemeli uplne nejlepsi casy, ze si to krasne uzili a ze maji radost, ze to zvladli. A tak to ma byt :)

Byl to super vecer - setkani s lidmi, kteri se rozhodli, ze se prekonaji, kteri v dnesni line dobe nerezignovali a dokazi si uzit radost z behu. "Joooo, jste dobryyyy!"

I was looking forward to it for more then six months. I endeavoured to train for six weeks. But my wisdom tooth hole hadn't enough time to skin over so I had to be a fan only. Kate (me dearest friend) had to run without me. However it was great :)

There was the Night Grand Prix at Prague Old Town yesterday evening - women's running race for five kilometres and men had run ten kilometres. Start of the women's race was planned to eight p.m. and men started one hour later.

When the start time of women's run was drawing nearer, the lane for runners started to fill by competitresses and alongside it were many fans and attendants. I tried to take some pictures however it was vain effort - there was no space along the lane that would allow me to see runners after the start. The only free place near the lane was occupied by some artist who was breathing fire all around him.


There was some free space near the lane at last after runners had started and disappeared at streets of the Old Town. They run throught the square again in the opposite direction in few minutes. There re-appear the crowd of attendants along the corridor. But I was quite disappointed that the audience was so hesitating to making noise to encourage runners. Narrators appealed the audience to clap hands many times however they still stood with out a move and having bored faces. They evidently had no idea how important is chucking-up for the runner.

After they had run throught this part of their path the time occuredfor me to move near the finish. It remained just few minutes till we would know which one would be the winner. The first competitress was as expecting from Kenya - Irene Kwambai. Narrators were looking forward for the first runner from Czech and I was waiting for the moment when I would see my friend Kate running to the back straigth.

The first Czech runner Petra Kaminkova came about one minute after Irene. There were other runners coming in at quite long intervals. Petra was asked to give an interview just after she had came in. She was complaining about bad lighting - it dazzleded her many times so she had her ankle sprained three times. She ended her interview by telling us that it was no go and she had to acquiesce that this race had been for audience. I think that this was quite poor - according to my opinion all races are for audience at first (not only because with no audience there would be no sponsors and with no sponsors there would be no race). I was sorry that she said nothing positive - I would like organizers to arrange Night Prix next year again to allow me to take part in the run. According to the motto of this Grand Prix - "Some things are just more fun in the dark."


The 23th minute was drawing nearer when I saw Kate approaching to he finish! I had expected that she would be great but she was so fast. That really surprised me. I tried to make my camera ready enthusiastically to take her picture at the finish. However I didn't make it well and the picture is quite dark :) (it is the black photo with white stripes on the left side of the screen)

We met after a while. Then we had struggled three times throught the square before we found where she should give back the chip. Organizers were indeed nice but they didn't know much information. If we asked them to tell us where chips should be given back they answered: "Oh, do you have any chips? :-o"

Time was running fast. It was nine p.m. and the race for men was started. We captured some balloons and we were roaming at streets around the square. We reached Parizska street (Paris Avenue) - the last street of the race that goes straight to finish. There were many people at the finish while nobody was at this street. Nobody who would encouarge tired runners. We hadn't to wait for a long time and first racers were coming (first few of them were traditionally from Kenya). So it happend that next 45 minutes we spent at this silent street by clapping hands, whistling and shouting "Yup!" and "Nice!", "Good", "Go go go!", "Just a few meters remains", "Hit it!", "Super" and at the end "Do not give it up! Last few metres!" and "You will make it!". Maybe we looked crazy but the truth is that many runners speeded up and those who were walking started to run. We energized most of them I think. Even now my hands are burnign :)

It is really so nice feeling if you see how people overcome themselves, how you energize them by a simple shouting. There were many children and pensioners among the runners. Even there was one using crutches. You could see especially when looking to runners who weren't at the first places that thay really enjoyed the run and thay were happy that thay had made it. And that's how it should be :)

It was a real nice evening - meeting people who decided that thay will overcome themselves. At our lazy times they haven't demitted and they can enjoy a happines from runnnig. "Jup, you are so great!"